Kelly is passionate about photography.

And I have been for half of my life. I first picked up an SLR at 17 and was quickly taken by the process of film development in my college darkroom. There’s nothing in my adult life that has been quite as magical as capturing a scene in the wild, then observing as an agitated bath of developer metamorphoses the scene from a ghostly faded impression into a richly detailed rendering. I savored the times when campus security forgot about me and I could process negatives well beyond closing time. That darkroom provided an awesome opportunity to learn this fading art, which was even then an aged practice in the industry. Learning film first has informed my current style and was a critical chapter in my journey as a photographer, lending to an aesthetic that favors a truth told with bold style and that smacks of rich flavor.

I graduated at the top of my university class with a degree in psychology, and went on to mentor at-risk youth in Missoula and Alaska. A longtime seasonal worker, I love to travel during the off-season and once spent 4 1/2 months on a backpacking tour of SE Asia. Long days of darkness camped out on the gravel beaches of SE Alaska for months on end led to an appreciation for the (mostly) dry seasons of Montana. I’ve spent winters producing content as a ski photographer in NW Montana, will be coming into my ninth summer as a river guide and landscape photographer in the Upper Missouri River National Breaks Monument of Central Montana, and am nearing the end of a master’s degree in education.

I’ve swapped out wet photo paper for a playful exploration of the creative possibilities of modern programs. I’ve pursued my passion for photography in Cambodia, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, and most of the Western United States (looking at you New Mexico).

I was proud to have my photo be the headlining image by the Montana Wilderness Association in a campaign to preserve the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument during the effort to reduce our National Monuments. You can find my work in national and regional publications and hanging in businesses across Montana. I am a proud resident of Missoula and love to serve my community!

LGBTQ+ friendly

View recent commercial clients here.